Packers announce process for finding successor for President and CEO Mark Murphy
GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Packers expect to find a successor to President & CEO Mark Murphy in six to nine months.
The team on Wednesday announced its succession process and search committee members. Murphy will turn 70 in July 2025, when he will be required to retire. He was named president and CEO in December 2007.
The search committee will work with management consulting firm Korn Ferry, headquartered in Los Angeles, which helped the team find candidates for other executive position openings. The Korn Ferry team is led by Jed Hughes, who was involved with another firm in the search that found Murphy, then athletic director at Northwestern University.
The search committee is led by Packers lead director Susan Finco. Dan Ariens, executive committee secretary, is vice chair of the search committee. Other members include treasurer Mike Simmer, D.J. Long, Marcia Anderson, Karl Schmid, Michael Barber, Jeff Joerres, Eddie Garcia, Robyn Davis and Mike Daniels (of Nicolet Bank, not former Packers player Mike Daniels).
Finco, Ariens, Simmer, Long, Anderson and Schmidt are executive committee members. Barber is chairman of the Packers Foundation. The others, including Garcia, who is a former player, are directors at large.
The search committee will present its recommendation to the Packers' 43-member board of directors for approval.
“Our search committee takes this responsibility very seriously as our new leader will shape the Packers’ future,” Ariens said in a news release. “We have been preparing the past several months for this important process, which will be comprehensive and align with NFL rules and requirements, and are pleased to be able to work with Jed Hughes and his team at Korn Ferry.”
The search must abide by NFL guidelines, including the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to consider minority candidates for coach, general manager and executive positions.
Murphy was recommended by Chicago-based search firm Spencer Stuart after then-chairman Bob Harlan's hand-picked choice, John Jones, was bypassed because of health issues. Murphy came to the Packers with a wide range of skills and experience. In addition to being a Super Bowl-winning NFL player, he worked for the players union, was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, earned an MBA, and was athletic director at Colgate and Northwestern.
"Mark's contributions to the organization have been tremendous," Finco said in the release. "From updating the corporate leadership structure to growing and diversifying revenue to increasing the meaningful impact of the Packers in the community, Mark continues to position the Packers for success."
The plan is to have the new president on board early next year so that they can have a transition period working alongside Murphy. The new president will undergo baptism by immersion. The Packers are scheduled to host the NFL Draft in April 2025, next to the Super Bowl, the premier event on the NFL calendar, and, as Murphy has said, the largest event ever to be held in Green Bay. Attendance of 240,000 over the three-day event is forecast.
Murphy participated in Jed Hughes podcast in 2020, talking about his career, selection process, ownership structure, the importance and value of Lambeau Field, the Titletown development across the street from the stadium, the football team's transition early in his tenure, and the changes at the top of the football operation in recent years.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers announce process to find successor for President Mark Murphy
